As disclosed in JP-2005-39529A and JP-2003-298418A, a pipeline analog to digital converter (ADC) includes a sub-ADC, a sub-digital to analog converter (DAC), an adder circuit, and an operational amplifier (op-amp).
The sub-ADC is a 1.5-bit ADC and converts an analog input voltage to an A/D conversion value consisting of three binary numbers. The sub-DAC outputs +Vref/2, 0, or, −Vref/2, in accordance with the A/D conversion value. The adder circuit adds the analog input voltage and the output of the sub-DAC. The op-amp amplifies the output of the adder circuit with a predetermined gain (e.g., gain of 2) and outputs the amplified output to the next stage.
As disclosed in JP-3046005, a cyclic ADC includes a switch, a sample hold circuit, a sub-ADC, a sub-DAC, a subtractor circuit, an amplifier, and a digital adder circuit.
The switch selects the analog input voltage or a feedback voltage. The sample hold circuit samples and holds the selected voltage. The sub-ADC converts the held voltage to a digital signal. The sub-DAC converts the output signal of the sub-ADC to an analog voltage. The subtractor circuit subtracts the output voltage of the sub-DAC from the output voltage of the sample hold circuit. The amplifier amplifies the output voltage of the subtractor circuit. In the digital adder circuit, the output signal of the sub-ADC is superimposed upon each other by one bit.
As described above, each of the pipeline ADC and the cyclic ADC needs a circuit for performing addition, subtraction, amplification, and holding operation. The op-amp is used as the circuit. In this case, a variation in a common-mode input voltage to the op-amp causes variations in characteristics such as gain and slew rate of the op-amp. As a result, an error is introduced into the output of the A/D converter. Therefore, it is preferable that an optimum common mode input voltage is applied to the op-amp in order to achieve stable, high gain and slew rate.